Tides of Olympus
by Jason Thompson
Summary: Kara's destiny was nothing like she imagined and more costly than she feared.
1. Washed Away

**Washed Away **  
October 22, 2007

Category: AU; L. Adama/Kara, Karl/Sharon, Adama/Roslin. Secondary; Lee/Dee, Sam/Kara.

Dedication: Dedicated to the usual suspects; Genova aka Schweet, Bri, Mary, Duchess, Dale, Blaire, Red, Stone Cold, Ice Wing, Silent Bob, Arashi, Aslan, Vega, Tony D, Jen Zimmer, Louise, Sairs, and Queen Angel who have allowed me to bounce my ideas off them, and Krac, cause she has the evil bunny slippers.

**Washed Away **

Lee's scanned the clouds as he looked for Kara, they'd been trying to skirt the storm on their CAP route but she'd chased after that phantom toaster and flown off into the soup. The EM Interference was frakking up his DRADIS and two things were occurring to Lee in quick succession. First; Kara may have indeed cracked up and two he'd have to go in there to find her.

He pushed on the stick and his plane banked into the storm front. Immediately the world plunged into near blackness and moisture impacted on his canopy while his DRADIS picture went to shit. "Starbuck/Apollo, I've lost you on DRADIS. I'm blind."

He was met with silence and his ire began to rapidly climb, "Starbuck/Apollo, I repeat; I have no sign of you or the raider. Starbuck, report!" Still nothing, "Starbuck, report!"

More silence and Lee scowled at the storm clouds surrounding him, "Frak! Kara!"

He heard a garbled voice that sounded vaguely like Karl, "Galactica/Apollo. No joy on raider or Starbuck-" A heavy raider erupted from the clouds right in front of him. "Oh frak!" He jammed the stick forward to try and avoid it but it was too late.

The raider clipped his canopy, jarring his plane hard and his head smashed into the side of the canopy. The plexiglas was cracked from the collision and the cabin pressure plummeted, Lee slumped forward against the stick as the black swallowed him whole.

&&&&&&&&&

She was right behind the raider when it broke out of the heavy clouds and narrowly avoided Lee's viper as he pushed his plane into a steep descent. A wolfish smile spread Kara's lips wide as the raider swerved wildly, right into her kill slot. "See you in hell." She pressed the trigger and it erupted into a ball of super-heated fuel.

With a whoop of joy she triggered her radio, "Apollo/Starbuck, scratch one turkey. You owe me first round at Joe's!" Kara chuckled as she suddenly felt a weight lift off her chest, whatever she'd been dreaming about wasn't real. Probably just some sort of post-hypnotic suggestion from Leoben that she'd triggered during her first flight over this planet.

Moments passed and Lee hadn't replied. She rolled her eyes, "Apollo/Starbuck, what's with the silent treatment?"

The silence turned ominous as her mind replayed the near-collision between the raider and his viper. They were so close and with the way the raider jerked… and the way Lee just shoved his nose forward so hard… She keyed her radio, "Apollo/Starbuck, comeback."

That ominous feeling turned to stone in the pit of her stomach as the only sound to be heard was the hum of her engines and the rain striking her canopy. She flipped her viper over and scanned the clouds for Lee, "Lee? The time for frakking with me is long since over." Her eyes strained with desperation as she tried to will his ship to appear, "Apollo/Starbuck, squawk ID."

"Apollo/Starbuck, sound off."

"Lee… Lee… GODS DAMNIT ANSWER ME!" When she heard nothing from him she began a prayer in her head as she spun her viper around and headed in the direction she'd last seen him. "Galactica/Starbuck, I've lost Apollo, request vector."

Kara felt the desperation settling upon her, she knew precisely what happened to Lee. The collision either fried his controls or knocked him out. Either way, he was dropping like a stone. He'd hit the hard deck in just over two minutes and that would be it, he'd die. "Apollo/Starbuck, squawk ID." She sounded frantic even to herself but she didn't care.

"Apollo/Starbuck, come back…"

"Lee? It's Kara, can you hear me?"

&&&&&&&&&

He could hear an alarm in the distance, fainter and fainter until he could easily ignore it. His eyes opened and found a cloudy sky above. He thought for a moment that he'd come to but quickly realized that he wasn't in the cockpit anymore. He was floating just downriver of the rapids on the Qualai River near Grandpa Joe's cabin.

He'd done this a thousand times growing up, just floating, the world far away from his dulled senses and his problems left behind. As a boy, it was the only time he could forget what it was like to not see his father whenever he could and years later drifting in the water was the only thing that dulled the pain of losing Zak.

The gentle pressure of the water amplified his pulse in his ears and Lee was struck by a sense of familiarity. "I've been here before."

The scene shifted instantly and smoothly to the Ready Room on Pegasus, the room was empty save one seat. Sharon sat front row, center seat with a pleased expression. "You have."

He came around the podium and sat down next to the raptor pilot, "When I let the air out of my flight suit?" Sharon nodded and Lee continued to think through what was so important about those minutes he sat floating in his ejection seat slowly suffocating.

Finally it came to him, "Is it because I'm dying?"

Sharon shook her head, "No, I've nearly died other times but didn't come here." He continued to think it over and he realized what the difference between his other near death experiences and that one was and why it felt the same this time. "It's because I've accepted that I'm dying and I'm at peace with it."

Sharon nodded and smiled, "You were never closer to death than you were at that moment; close enough to hear us, close enough to feel us. It's been difficult to reach you, Lee."

He raised an eyebrow, "Are you trying to tell me I'm a Cylon?"

She laughed lightly, "No, you're not a Cylon and you've never even entertained the notion of being one. The reason we've had such a hard time reaching you is because unlike so many other people, you've never allowed yourself to be fooled by your senses. Most people slip away into daydreams, fantasies, memories, those are the times when we can speak to them. You've always been so grounded that it's only been moments like this when we could reach you."

She adjusted in her seat and crossed her legs casually to face him, "We've had to do a lot of work to have this moment with you. Prodding people with subtle suggestions; a push, a callous remark, an unexpected insight, a moment of comradery, each subtle move designed to bring you here."

He sank into the seat and thought over what Sharon was saying, "What are you talking about? Is this some cryptic destiny like with the President?" He chuckled and continued, "I don't believe in any of that."

Sharon nodded, "Neither did Pythia before he was shown the final Exodus of humanity and the reuniting of the Tribes."

He smirked, "So, I'm important enough to be compared to Pythia? I'm just a pilot."

This time Sharon laughed incredulously, "You honestly expect to believe that you've been thrust into the center of some of the most pivotal moments of this journey and yet you walk untouched by destiny?"

"Well, when you put it that way…"

The silence stretched out between them as Lee began to accept that he had a destiny and it was upon him. Finally he spoke, "What is my destiny?"

Sharon looked at him with a wry smile, "You're being awfully accepting, some might fight this or try to play it off as a hallucination brought on by head trauma and oxygen deprivation."

Lee shook his head, "If I was hallucinating, I'd imagine I'd be talking to Zak or Kara or my mother, not my friend's wife, a wife that's a Cylon, no less. Besides, you're out of character for Sharon. The Sharon I've come to know is always just a little wary of me because of our history."

She shrugged, "I never said I was Sharon."

He nodded thoughtfully then asked, "Then may I ask who you are?"

She smiled warmly and said, "We'll get to that later. First let's discuss you, growing up you never felt right, you moved from planet to planet base to base as your mother tried to keep her marriage from failing. You were a quiet child as a result; watching those around you, taking it all in. When Zak was born he gave birth to a protective streak, something we needed to nurture in you.

"When your parents divorced and your mother turned abusive, you took her anger and frustration upon yourself to shelter Zak. People often wondered how two brothers only three years apart could be so different. How Zak could be so happy and outgoing yet you stood on the edges of the crowd never really a part of anything."

Lee scowled, "It wasn't because Mom… She didn't hit me all that often, she just yelled…" He felt ashamed that even now he couldn't talk about what his mother had done to him. He never could; not with Zak, not Grandpa Joe or teachers or counselors, not with Gianne or Dee, Shevon had known somehow he imagined it had to do with her line of work. He'd always hoped Kara would see some sign of it as he'd recognized the pain of an abusive childhood in her but she'd known Zak first and Zak's stories of his happy childhood made sure she'd never see it.

He'd tried with his dad just a few weeks earlier and he dismissed it readily with just two words, "That's enough." He could even understand the reasons his father couldn't listen, he carried the guilt of their failed marriage on his own shoulders if he learned that he'd left his sons to be abused as well his heart just wouldn't be able to take it.

That didn't take the sting out of it and it certainly didn't make it easy for Lee to even revisit those memories.

Sharon shook her head, "Not all of it, no."

"You were right though, I've never felt like I belonged until that day Dad took us up in a raptor and I felt space beneath me." Things began to click into place, "I didn't belong, did I?" Sharon shook her head and he began to follow the train of thought, "I was always meant to be part of this journey."

"Not quite, you've been meant to _lead_ this journey. You were the one who convinced Roslin to meet up with the Galactica, you helped convince your father to leave the fight and protect the Fleet. You held onto humanity's ideals on the Astral Queen and again weeks later on Colonial One. You defied your father to help Roslin find the next clue to Earth. You identified the Lagoon Nebula."

"But Kara-"

Sharon nodded, "Her destiny has been intimately linked to yours. You two have been the guides for the Fleet, why do you think that you both gave into all your worst instincts when it seemed the Fleet would settle on New Caprica yet you both regained your focus when the Exodus began once more?

"Why is it do you think that despite both of you marrying other people you two couldn't help but drift together? Why on the Algae planet you never felt more linked to her? Why you could freely sacrifice your wife if it meant Kara was returned to you?"

Lee had never thought to interpret things this way before. He never thought of the role he'd played in the fleet's journey before or how the Exodus seemed to tie him to Kara so tightly. He had been willing to sacrifice if it meant Kara survived. Sharon gave voice to his thoughts, "It's not simply because you love her, Lee. That's a part of it, but you two need each other. Kara had to bring you here. Her destiny was to finally deliver you to us so that we can send you and the Fleet on to Earth."

Lee looked to her with wide eyes, "Oh Gods… She'll have to… She won't be able to… If I die today, it'll break her." His eyes narrowed as that protective streak Sharon mentioned reared its head, "How can you do this to her? Hasn't she suffered enough for destiny, she's been coming apart thinking she was losing her mind and now you're telling me her destiny is to lead me to my death?"

Sharon smiled, "Okay, maybe a lot of it is because you love her. Lee, death doesn't have to be horrible, did you ever think that you might be able to teach her this?" He continued to scowl at her but Sharon leaned forward as though imparting a secret. "Perhaps, death is something beautiful and it's your place to teach her this as she's run from it all her life and fears it more than anything. Couldn't that be the case?"

Lee stood up and walked back to the podium, "That's not a lesson Kara should have to be taught over and over again. Her mother made her miserable for years and when Kara finally found something she loved to do and she was good at it still wasn't enough for her. Still when word got to her that Mrs. Thrace died, it tore at her, she lost Zak just months later and then the Colonies were destroyed. Since then we've had that lesson repeated over and over again. Why are you asking this of me?"

Sharon stood up, "Because your whole life has led to this moment, everything you've done, everything you're experienced has been in preparation for this. Beyond that, every life in the Fleet depends on this moment. If you reject what's preordained the Fleet will never find Earth, you'll die one-by-one lost in the darkness. It's your choice."

He closed his eyes in frustration, "I'm still afraid that-"

Sharon picked up on his thoughts, "Your father will take care of her. It seems to be the shared destiny of your family to care for her. She has people who will help her learn to let go of the guilt, all you have to do is let it happen."

The argument was over at that moment, Lee could cause Kara pain or he could condemn her to death. As he accepted his fate he began to notice the alarm returning and a sensation of falling…

&&&&&&&&&

Kara was approaching frantic as she searched for Lee's viper. They were coming up on ninety seconds from the hard deck and she hadn't even seen an exhaust trail, she was on an intercept vector for Lee's descent but still nothing, "Apollo/Starbuck, I've lost you on DRADIS, squawk ID."

Still nothing, all she wanted was a word, a word from him and she'd know he was still alive and conscious and if Lee Adama was alive and conscious they'd get out of this. They'd have a long laugh about this at Joe's and he'd mock her for sounding like a scared little girl. "I say again, I've lost you on DRADIS. Squawk ID and I'll try and get a fix on you."

&&&&&&&&&

CIC was deathly quiet as they waited for Apollo to reply to Starbuck. Bill Adama wouldn't have noticed if they were throwing a party, his entire world was reduced to the DRADIS and the pilot chatter, "_For frak's sake, Lee!_"

He could hear how frantic Kara was and he wondered if her hands were shaking as bad as his were. "C'mon Lee."

If possible, things became even more strained when Lee's voice came out in a groggy whisper, "_Kara?_"

Starbuck let loose an almost hysterical laugh, "_Oh, thank the Gods! Lee you scared the frak outta me!_"

"_Kara, I need you to promise me something._"

Bill scowled at the display at the strange tone of Lee's voice almost as if…

"_Say again?_"

"_I need you to promise me something, Kara._"

Kara's voice suddenly regained the tension it had lost as she too realized how Lee sounded, "_Lee, I'll promise you a frakking lap dance on the TAC table in CIC during first watch when we get back. Listen to me right now, pull up now or you're dead._"

Gaeta called out, "Ninety seconds to hard deck."

"_Kara, I need you to promise me you'll take care of my father and you won't blame yourself._"

"_Lee, you can't talk like you're dying, we can still get out of this, but you need to pull up now._"

He heard Saul from the far side of table, "He's getting too close to the deck."

Helo was next too, "Kara's right behind him, the pressure will crush them both."

Gaeta called out again, "Sixty seconds, Dee divert red flight to their last known position."

Bill tore his eyes from the console to see Dee maintaining her composure by a hair's width; she gave Gaeta a stuttering nod before she ordered Hot Dog and Hex to make for Lee and Kara's position.

Bill looked back to the display and whispered to the screen, "C'mon Lee."

&&&&&&&&&

Kara's eyes lit as she say Lee's plane tumbling through the air, "Visual! Repeat, visual! Lee, I'm coming to get you!"

As she approached she noticed his engines were still lit and she could see into the cockpit, it didn't look like he was even trying to pull up, "Lee, you need to-"

"_Kara, you need to promise me! You can't blame yourself for this. This started long before today… This was destiny. I finally understand. I love you Kara and I've never blamed you._"

Her instrument panel blurred for just a moment as her vision swam, "Lee, don't do this to me."

In contrast to her desperate plea, Lee's voice was serene, "_It's okay Kara… I'll be okay. Just let me go._"

"Lee!"

"_It's okay._"

Flames licked the nose of Lee's plane as he passed beyond the hard deck. The metal of the hull twisted and compressed as the plane was crushed until the fuel ignited and his plane went up in a fire ball.

Her heart seemed to stop as she watched Lee die right before her eyes and she was suddenly screaming, "NO! GOOD GODS NO! Lee!"

Her mind was reeling and she felt a seductive voice whisper in her ear to let go of the stick when the Old Man suddenly started yelling, "_Kara! Get the frak outta there!_"

His commanding tone struck through her breakdown and she pulled back on the stick, she was so close to the deck that the ship fought her just to roll over. She won the battle and left her one of the best men she'd ever known behind as little more than cinder and ash.

The Admiral's voice crackled across the speakers moments later, "_Can you see him? Is there a visual?_"

Pain settled around her heart and each breath was labored as she spoke, "Negative, he went down with his plane. No chute… He just… I couldn't get to him…"

She cut the channel and kicked in her after burners intending to get to Galactica before the urge to flip her viper and fly right back into the storm until her plane was crushed and she could see Lee again. She only reactivated her com unit to get landing instructions; she executed her landing and had to start swallowing tears as she was taxied onto the flight deck.

By the time she was on the flight deck and powered down, her vision was blurred with tears and she began to taste bile. She popped her canopy with one hand while unclasping the harness with the other. She yanked her helmet off and jumped out of the cockpit as though it was on fire. She all but stumbled down the ladder and nearly dropped to her knees before staggering away from the sympathetic glances of the knuckle-draggers.

She found the Ready Room and didn't even bother to dog the hatch. She stumbled into the room and dropped to her hands and knees into front of the podium. She began to wretch and spilt the contents of her stomach on the deck. She didn't restrain the sobs as she collapsed onto her side then curled in tight on herself.

When she was yanked off the deck and hauled to her feet violently she came up ready for a fight. Instead she dissolved into tears again at the sight of the anguish on the face of the man whose sons she'd loved… Whose sons she'd killed.

Bill yanked her into her arms and she only cried harder. "Shh Kara… It's alright. I'm here."

She pressed her face into his uniform and sobbed out, "I killed him. I killed him… Ikilledhim…" She began to babble incoherently.

"You didn't" was his only reply and he said for every time she tried to shoulder the blame.

She hoped if he said it enough, she'd believe him one day.


	2. Cast Adrift

**Cast Adrift**

Fabric was roughly cast aside, plunging the world into harsh light a moment before the slap of bare feet slapping against the deck tore through the silence of the SPQ.

A moment later, Kara Thrace emerged from her rack, not noticing nor particularly caring about her nudity. She'd realized only too late that the only person she truly wanted to notice her body, to gaze upon her face, to touch her flesh and taste her skin, the only person she'd ever want to love her again was gone.

Lee Adama was dead.

He didn't even have the common decency to take her with him.

She'd known all her life she'd been chosen by the Gods to suffer. They'd shown their hand to her at an early age when Daddy walked out on her. The last thing he'd said to her was, "I love you, Kara. Always remember that."

He'd been the first to love her only to leave her when she needed them, not nearly the last. Zak Adama had been a beacon of light for her; smiling, happy, gentle and passionate. He'd been the perfect man for her and she loved him far more deeply than she'd thought possible. Enough to ignore that he just wasn't the pilot he wanted to be, so she passed him.

He was dead just days later.

She spun off the rails after that, not seeking anything beyond a warm body for the night. For two years, she drank harder, fought harder and flew harder. She hit on anything that moved, men, women it didn't matter. If they could help her forget Zak for a few minutes or hours, maybe even a night that was all she cared about.

She started to take solace in her self-destructive behaviors, so much so that by the time of the Attacks they felt like all she was capable of. Then Lee Adama came back into her life.

Once again, the Gods saw fit to have an Adama reach out to her. They tasked Apollo with stepping down from Olympus and taking her under his care. Lee ran with her, flew with her, drank with her, he sat across from her at the triad table, seeing through all her tells and taking money that should've been hers. He was constantly there, driving her insane.

It was little wonder that by the time he blew up the Cylon refinery that she'd tipped head over heels and fallen in love with him. By Colonial Day she knew beyond a shadow of a doubt that, despite how frakking miserable their world was, she could've been deliriously happy with Lee. It was no surprise that she took the first chance she could to screw it up.

If Kara was ever happy, the Gods would take away the person or thing responsible for it. Especially if the person loved her, and she knew long before the Astral Queen that Lee loved her.

Her love was poisonous.

She compounded her betrayal of Lee's heart by becoming enamored with Sam: Promising herself to him, dwelling on him, obsessing over his rescue all the while yanking Lee around. Helping his own self-destructive behavior by not being there after his space walk, ignoring his dull eyes every time he returned from Cloud Nine a little less than what he was before, ignoring him while he stole Dee from a good man and turning a cold shoulder to his pleading face when she'd shot him.

Then when she finally returned to Caprica and rescued Sam, the first thing she thing did was flaunt him in Lee's face. But even flaunting another man in his face did nothing to deter bull-headed Lee Adama; he sought her out at the Groundbreaking Ceremony, seduced her and then professed her love. Leaving her with only one course of action, to save Lee from her she had to destroy him. Not only that, but she had to be brutal so that if Lee ever put himself back together, he'd never risk placing his heart in her hands again.

Then something horrible happened, she started falling in love with Sam. After the Exodus began again, she was left with two men who, despite her best efforts, loved her. She had two men who could bring the Gods down upon their heads for the sin of providing Kara Thrace happiness. It was a death sentence for one or both of them.

Thirteen days ago Lee Adama was made to pay the price for her happiness, as a sacrifice to the Gods.

If she closed her eyes, if her attention wandered, if she even set foot on the flight deck or the Ready Room, she'd see it all over again. His Mark VII twisting and warping under the pressure, gunmetal grey on black for just a moment before being swallowed by flame, snuffing out his life forever.

The worst part for Kara was in the sick and twisted mockery of life she now lived, nothing was allowed to change. How could the most important person in her life die and not send her screaming into madness? Why was Dee allowed to play the grieving widow while the person who was closer to him than anyone, who understood Lee Adama so well she could destroy and rebuild him with little more than three words had to shrug it off like it was only the death of a colleague?

Why did she have to pretend that Lee's death wasn't a gaping wound where her soul once was?

The answer was simple; she'd given up her right to be destroyed by this when she left Lee alone in a field. So she pretended. At the memorial she sat silently, teeth grinding to keep her lip from quivering while the Old Man talked about the life of Lee Adama.

She smirked through pilot briefing after pilot briefing, a quip or snarky comment at the ready as she seamlessly took over CAG responsibilities. She flew CAPs, went on runs, sat at the bar in Joe's and generally pretended she'd never even heard of Lee Adama, much less loved him more than she had a right to.

It was like Zak's death, only now she didn't even have the luxury of pushing everyone away and self-destructing.

Maybe that was why when it actually took months for her fall apart after Zak died, it seems that it was taking less that a fortnight for her to start to crash now.

She'd spent the last three nights alone in the CAG's office, drinking herself almost blind before pouring herself into her rack to repeat the process come reveille. Each morning she was a little closer to the hard deck and she was contemplating just letting go of the stick so she could crash completely.

She shrugged off the melancholy as she stepped up to her locker and yanked it open. She grabbed her towel and shower kit then a fresh set of tanks then gripped the door to close it when her eyes caught on the photo tucked in the door.

Her eyes were not on the smiling face of Zak but rather the sad eyes of Lee's. They seemed to draw her in until she was paralyzed by their depth. She remembered every time they crinkled with mirth, when they shined with rage, how they turned almost grey with despair after Cain's funeral and especially the times they would darken before he kissed her.

She was struck again by a near crippling pain in her chest as she fought off her tears. With a great effort she tore her eyes from the picture, only for them to land on the mirror where she was met by her own face twisted up in agony…

She looked away from that too, only for her eyes to settle on the photo of her apartment Karl found after they left the Algae Planet. The mural of the mandala was most prominent in the photo and as she looked at it, it began to writhe and swirl angrily. Thunder rumbled from somewhere and she staggered away from the photo.

As she tumbled to the deck she heard Lee's voice, "Kara!"

&#&

Kara started awake and shot upright, "LEE!"

Her surroundings were blurry and unfocused. She could feel sweat soaking every inch of her body and tears burning her eyes. She gulped down several ragged breaths, ignoring the pain it brought; instead her attention was on her heart as it hammered loud in her chest. She could the feel adrenaline burning through her arteries, giving voice to paranoid thoughts.

Soon, the adrenaline high began to fade and her mind began to settle. Her heart soon calmed as well and her gasping breaths soon became normal at last. Once she was calm, she began looking at her surroundings more closely. She soon realized that she was in hack, the familiar grey walls and bars were once like a second home, she'd recognize them anywhere.

She stood up slowly, only for her head to start pounding as the last of the adrenaline faded, letting her hangover assert itself brutally. With the grace expected of someone who had drank themselves into a stupor only hours earlier she stumbled over to the toilet in her cell and spilt the contents of her stomach.

Fresh tears, this time involuntary coursed down her cheeks as she slumped to the deck and sagged against the bars. She pulled her knees up and buried her face in her hands; the dream was becoming as familiar to her as a hangover. She'd had it every night for fives nights and she'd started drinking to try and stop it.

More than anything she'd experienced since Lee pleaded with her to let him die; the dream was eating away at her soul. A mournful voice broke the silence and her head snapped up, "Why didn't you come to me?"

She looked around and found Karl standing in front of the guard station, in almost the same spot Lee had been in before the Decommissioning. Helo was almost a mirror image of him, where Lee had been in his flight suit, the top half off and trailing behind him and looking rather smug, Karl was in his blues, and looking like he wanted nothing better than to wrap Kara up in tissue paper and store her away from the world to spare her pain.

She felt a bitter scowl twisting her face, "No." Just as he was about to start talking again she started again, "What happened?"

He turned to the guard, "Corporal, give us a few minutes. Go get some chow."

The young marine snapped him a salute then disappeared, closing the hatch behind her. Kara almost smirked before the headache made her groan and squeeze her eyes shut. "Was I that out of control?"

He sighed and plucked the keys off the desk. He unlocked the cell and left the door open as he entered before taking a seat on the cot. Then he braced his elbows on his knees and clasped his hands together in front of him, a perfect image of sadness. He was silent for uncounted seconds while Kara watched him, feeling bleaker and bleaker.

Finally, Karl turned his eyes on her, "You got drunk and went down to Dogsville, you roughed up that Oracle. Brenn. One of her neighbors called me." His eyes hardened slightly, "You're lucky, if they'd called the Marines you'd be up on assault charges. When I got down there, you were raging about what she told you a few days ago.

"Something about 'Leoben coming' for you but Lee died instead, you weren't making a lot of sense. When I tried to calm you down, you just crumpled and burst into tears." He paused while she winced at the thought of her breakdown. "You said… Screamed it really. 'Take it back! Take it all back! Take me and give Lee back!'" Another anguished silence followed, Karl looked at her with a wounded expression. Kara knew he'd felt like she'd somehow let him down. "Why didn't you come to me, Kara?"

She got to her feet slowly, "No Karl."

He stood up angrily, "I can listen-"

Her head shook almost involuntarily, she was growing desperate now. "No."

He shouted at her, "I can help!"

Kara screamed right back, "NO YOU CAN'T!" She sagged against the bars, "No you can't Karl! I'm not even supposed to care this much! I'm just a pilot and he's- he _was_ my CAG. I'm not supposed to fall apart over this!" Her vision blurred and tears burned her eyes, "But I am. Lee's dead because of me. He's dead because he cared."

Karl watched her with a perplexed face as she spoke and when he replied his tone was bewildered, "I don't understand why you'd think that way. Lee wasn't just your CAG, he was your friend, hell he was _our_ friend. You're allowed to mourn your friends, Kara."

She scowled at him darkly, "The Old Man can mourn his son. Dee can mourn her husband. You and Lee were tight since New Caprica so you're allowed." She bit back her tears, "But me? Why should I be allowed to mourn someone I killed?"

"You didn't kill-"

Hangover forgotten, Kara cut him her darkest look. Her teeth were clenched but that didn't stop her warning, "Don't say it!"

He closed his eyes and sighed angrily, "Kara! You didn't kill him."

She snapped to her feet, "Bullshit! He was out there because I was cracking up, Karl. He was trying to help me pull it together."

"There was a Raider, Kara. You were engaged with a bogey and Lee had lost you on DRADIS, it just went wrong." His eyes widened a half a second after he finished speaking.

She felt her blood froze in her veins, "'It just went wrong?'"

"Kara-"

She was on him before he realized she'd moved and her fist caught him just under his left eye. "It didn't 'just' go wrong! It was a disaster, and it was my doing! _I_ cracked up! _I_ kept going out there when I was paralyzed with terror! _I_ let Lee talk me into flying when I should have requested a psych eval and _I_ drove that Turkey right into _Lee's plane_! Now who the frak's fault does that sound like to you?"

Karl stood up angrily then walked over to the cell door then paused, gingerly touching his cheek. He watched her seethe while his anger slipped away with every breath until the calm and collected Karl Agathon resumed his normal appearance at last. He made his way to the hatch to leave then frowned, "Do me a favor? Go visit the Oracle, apologize at the least, find some solace if you can but remember this: Lee's final words were to you, 'I love you' and 'I've never blamed you.' Keep that in mind, please."

&#&

Using Lee's final plea to her as a weapon like that was a devastating body blow for Kara and left her in the cell alone for nearly an hour, just reeling from the memory of Lee's final moments assaulting her brutally. When she returned to her bunk later she was dealt another one.

Dee had resigned her commission a few days ago and was preparing to leave Galactica for good to work for the President. Her heart had gone out of the military when the love of her life died with another woman's name on his lips. It was almost perversely funny that straight-laced Lee Adama could screw up everyone around him, not by dying, but with his last words. That was a screw-up that not even Starbuck could outdo.

Kara found a box in her rack with a note attached. She recognized Dee's writing immediately, the note was just four words; "I frakking hate you!" Inside the box were nearly all of Lee's personal possessions; from the last remaining Atlantia Patch in the Universe to his Commander's insignia and Orders of Command, the patch had been his but the Quartermaster had kept it until after the Beast was destroyed when Karl had liberated it since Lee had once again been left with little more than the clothes on his back, the pins had been the ones he'd wore the day Pegasus was destroyed over New Caprica. The pair his father gave him upon his promotion, lost with his ship.

There were also a couple of novels that were second hand at best. She realized then how little Lee actually had beyond a few uniforms and some bartered, ill-fitting civvies. He'd barely enough things to fill a storage box and that more than anything tore at Kara.

It wasn't right that such a great man had so few things to call his own. She pulled one of his blue tunics out of the box and clutched it to her chest as the tears began to quietly flow again. She just managed to slip into her rack and yank the curtain closed before she cried herself to sleep.

&#&

She awoke a few hours later, crying out for Lee once more then dragged herself down to the head for a long shower. It took a considerable effort but she managed to make herself presentable in her blues before she made the trek down to Dogsville and found Yolanda Brenn once more.

Brenn's shrine was little more than a few blankets strung up around a small altar, but as Kara entered she was nearly overpowered by the heady scent of incense that filled the shrine. She looked around and determined quickly her drunken tantrum had done little permanent damage.

Brenn was seated at the altar praying to idols of Athena and Aurora. She paused and looked up, seeing Kara the Oracle smiled warmly. "I'm glad you've come, Kara Thrace." She gestured to the seat opposite hers. "Sit, it is time."

When Kara sat, Brenn held out her hands for Kara to take. Kara managed to force words to her lips, "I'm sorry I attacked you."

The woman seemed to ignore Kara's attack from the night before and her apology as she said, "You were lost and confused. Your Husband has died and it seemed even the Lords had abandoned you." She leaned forward, "You were afraid. Blindly afraid of a world where you suffered alone. Blind fear is dangerous." She squeezed Kara's hands, "Fear no longer, I have seen your path."

Kara started to pull away, "I didn't come for another reading. Frankly, I'm a little angry with the Gods right now." It'd be hours before she realized she hadn't bothered to deny that Lee was her husband.

The older woman's grip was surprisingly strong as her gaze captured Kara's then refused to let go. "Five nights now, you've had the same dream. It will continue to come as the path becomes clearer. You may believe that the death of Apollo has left you alone and cast adrift by the Gods but care for you still.

"You still have a role to play in the Exodus, Kara. An important role, you are the herald of the Lords. When the time comes and all is revealed to their chosen Vessel, he will reveal the path to Earth to you. He will know the path but will be unable to express it, you will be able to express the way but you do not know it.

"He will lead you to Earth and you will lead us."

Kara was struck immobile by Yolanda's words; she could feel the truth of them, though she didn't understand them. "I…"

"You have had the dream, Kara. It is through dreams that the Lords will lead you to their Vessel. Do not fear them. Do not run from them. Learn from them, meditate on them, seek their meaning for dreams can provide the path if we can find their meaning."

She released Kara's left hand and lit several candles that were positioned on the altar, "There is a path, linked to the events that are unfolding as we speak. You will need to prepare for them.

"The Lords now consider you a widow and they ask that you purify yourself. The moon Ithaca is new over Caprica, you will fast for three days and you will know not drink nor any other vice until it is new again. Nor will you know the touch of another's flesh in that time. You must devote yourself to the scriptures in this time."

She plucked an idol of Zeus from a stand behind her and placed it between them. "Zeus will call you to him three times, each time he will ask something different of you. First he will ask you to prove your faith in him by doing what he believes impossible and you must refuse him.

"Next, he will accuse another of betraying him. You must calm him."

She squeezed Kara's right hand tightly and said, "Then, he will call you before him to act as council. He will have the fate of an enemy in his hands and you must convince him to spare that enemy."

Brenn replaced the idol of Zeus as she released Kara's other hand, "After that, all will seem lost. Only then will the Gods consider you pure and you will finally know the presence of the Vessel."

She then picked up the two idols she'd been praying over, "His words will be ignored and his freedom will be taken as all who knew him will call him betrayer. He will be denied everything, even worship." She held them out to Kara, "Athena and Aurora. The Vessel will work in their name as he is the hero of a new day for humanity. His faith rests in you as well and he will tell you of his devotion. Give these to him as proof that you believe in him and accept his pledge to you. From there the final journey can begin." After closing Kara's hand around the idols, she sank back into the pillows behind her, "I have grown tired, you may return again after you've pondered the Gods' message and begun you path."

Kara all but staggered out of the shrine.

&#&

All too soon she found herself paged to the Admiral's cabin. She found the place dark and brooding in a way it never had been before. The Old Man looked rather worse for wear and the glass in his hand clearly didn't hold water. He offered her a seat across from her and began without preamble. It seemed small talk died with his son, "Helo spent the last few days acting as a bodyguard for Baltar's attorney, the trial is just a few weeks away. Mr. Lampkin has asked that Karl remained assigned to him during the trial to act as an aide." He paused to sip from his glass, "The President has agreed."

Another sip was followed by him scowling into his glass for a tense moment. She was suddenly reminded of the night she told him about passing Zak. "I know the last two weeks have been hard for you Kara. I don't think anyone can understand quite how much it must have hurt for you to watch him die the way he did…" This time, his sip turned into a long drink that emptied the glass. "I need you as CAG, Kara."

Kara had stopped breathing as Brenn's words came back to her; "Zeus" had been symbolic of the Old Man and this was his first test. He must have mistaken her gasp for trepidation instead of surprise as he tried to calm her, "I wish I didn't have to ask this of you, it'll probably feel impossible to climb in the cockpit again. If there were another way I'd take it, but I need you to trust me. We'll get through this if you trust me."

He was asking her to fly, to return to the fold. He needed her to be the good little soldier and she couldn't, not if she wanted Lee's sacrifice to actually mean something. She felt a tear slip down her cheek, "I can't."

"Kara-"

She shook her head, "You don't understand sir. It's not just that I can't fly again, I _won't_ fly again. Not now, I understand my path now and as much as I want to fly, as much as I want to pick up the Adama flag and fly it in the skies again, if I do I'll loose myself. I'll fall apart out there or I'll be shot down or I'll just loose myself in the soldier and never find my path again.

"I saw an Oracle today, she told me that I must purify myself and find the path the Gods have laid out for me." She stood up, "I'd like to be granted a leave of absence, until I can do that. Please."

His eyes pleaded with her for just a moment before he said, "I could order you."

She nodded sadly, "And I could resign."

He frowned before nodding, "You could." His face was morose as he said, "Very well, Captain. I'll allow your Leave of Absence."

She circled around the desk and placed a hand on his shoulder, "He loved you. You know that, right?"

He looked up into her eyes and his own hand held hers in place, "I do. I wish I had known how much he loved you when I could have done something about it, though."

She felt another tear slip down her cheek, "Me too."


	3. Surfacing

**Surfacing**

_Eight traveled the halls of the Base Ship quietly, her thoughts disturbed by waking dreams of fire and destruction and the end of her people. They'd plagued her for weeks, first they were random flashes at odd moments when her mind seemed to wander but they grew both in frequency and intensity until she could no longer escape them. _

_Her mind couldn't escape the worry that the images were coming to fruition and she was being given the key to deciphering them. However, she had no way of knowing what they meant._

_Perhaps that was what brought her to the hybrid. The Twos often sought the random musings of the hybrids to attempt to find some sort of meaning behind their strung together words. Few of the other models did however, and the Ones often groused that the twos' seeming obsession with finding prophecy in insanity should be more than reason enough to send them down the same road as the Sevens but they had never been able to arrive at consensus over the matter._

_She looked down into the tank at the hybrid as she stared vacantly into nothingness and rambled, "Increase air temperature zero-point-six-one degrees… Adjust course to avoid stellar radiation spike… Additional thrust needed to adjust course… Needs… Wants… Desires. Desire is the result of suffering. Suffering the slings and arrows of outrageous fortune. I desire nothing more than time."_

_She kneeled in front of the hybrid and tried passively to draw its attention. _

_"Time is linear but life is a circle. All of this has happened before… Life moves through the circle unbroken, the son becomes the father becomes the son… Rings within rings… Seven rings ended all life… Even the broken ring curves in upon itself… Notes repeating themselves in an infinite coda. It is a song for the deaf."_

_Suddenly and with enough strength to injure, the hybrid gripped her forearm. "God so loved the world that he gave his son so that we shall not perish… Is this the noble sacrifice my creators spoke of? He emerges with the dawn, seeking only the faith and love of the one he gave his life for. The path emerges before them, and the circle ends. He has risen. 01000001 01110000 01101111 01101100 01101100 01101111… End of line."_

#&#

Sharon shot upright in bed, shaking with the force of her dream. The encounter with the hybrid before she was sent to seduce Karl all those years ago had shaken her as much tonight as it had the moment it had happened and she was no closer to the meaning now then she was then.

"Sharon?" Karl's hand on her naked back grounded her as much as his sleepy voice. She slowly calmed her racing heart and relaxed her breath. Focusing only on the warmth of his palm against her flesh, "You okay?"

She gave him a shaky nod, "Bad dream."

She prayed she wasn't lying to him. She prayed even more that she wasn't lying to herself.

#&#

Seven weeks had passed since Kara had been set upon her path by the Oracle and had taken a leave of absence. She'd followed Brenn's instructions to the letter. For three days, she fasted, studying the scriptures, praying and meditating on what she read and trying to understand what the Oracle had been saying. Something important was happening and she was in the middle of it.

On the morning of the fourth day, after she'd placed a photo of Lee up next to Duck and his wife she got on the comms to Colonial One in the hopes that the President knew how she could file for divorce. Sam had been blind-sided, he'd held out hope that once she got through her mourning over Lee that they could repair their marriage but Brenn had been clear: The Gods considered her Lee Adama's widow which meant to the Lords of Kobol she'd never been married to Sam Anders and to remain married to him she'd be acting in defiance of their wishes.

The divorce took less than ten days to complete as despite his heartbreak Sam did not fight her. After that she threw her time into studying the scriptures with tenacity. She read the scrolls every morning before her run and would write down her thoughts on what she read. These notes quickly turned into essays and interpretations.

She was seen frequently down in Dogsville both with Brenn and with the small group of Sagitarrons that studied under the Oracle. They talked for hours about scripture and dogma and interpretation of the scrolls. Kara had grown to love those debates more than anything. At first she spent most of her time listening but as her knowledge and confidence in her thoughts grew she jumped into the debates.

She'd expounded for hours on the nature of suffering and why it was necessary for people to endure it. She no longer believed she was being punished by the Gods, nor anyone else for that matter. Her mother had long said that suffering was as much punishment as it was a test of faith; she'd said it so loudly and so often that Kara believed it and it eventually led her down a path of self-destruction when Zak died.

At the time, she'd believed that the Gods were punishing her for not having faith that Zak could endure not being a pilot so she wallowed in her "punishment" until all she had left were her own fears and demons.

It was in talking with first Brenn and then the others that she began to realize that the Gods loved humanity and hardship was not to be viewed as punishment but as a test, but not of faith. Hardship was a test of character, for it was when things are bleak that all the crap is stripped away and the Truth of a person can be revealed.

Lee had taught her that, though she had never realized that before, nor did she imagine that he understood it himself until the end… she hoped. Zak had called Lee a cynic at heart, but he was wrong. Lee was an idealist in the core of his soul. He desperately wanted, even needed to believe the best about people.

He wanted people to be better than what they thought of themselves.

He'd wanted his father to not wallow in the horrors he'd seen during the final hours of the First Cylon War and be as much a father to his sons as he'd been to the men and women under his command.

He'd wanted his mother to, if not forgive, then at least let go of the wrongs Bill Adama had done them and crawl out of the bottle enough to be a mother.

He'd wanted Zak to pursue **_his_** dreams and not those of his father.

He wanted the people of the Fleet to finally turn towards their best instincts and desires and not wallow in their base impulses.

Most of all, he'd wanted Kara to be better. She realized that his final words weren't absolution of any guilt she might feel at his death but rather encouragement for her to let go of the guilt that had hounded her since the first time her mother blamed Kara for the disappearance of her father. He wanted her to let all that go, to embrace whatever it was she was meant to be.

She just wished she knew who she was meant to be.

She'd had a long conversation with Sharon on the morning after she'd completed her fasting as she'd ate her breakfast. They'd obliquely discussed what had happened to Lee and how his death had forced her to strip away all of the armor she'd worn for years.

Kara had told Sharon how she'd tried to fully embrace "Starbuck" and leave Kara behind completely only for it to nearly crush her spirit. She'd confided that it was strangely fitting that by stripping away Starbuck, piece-by-piece; the flying, the gambling and drinking, the attitude and her marriage to Sam that she'd felt stronger than ever before even if she had no clue who or what she was.

Sharon simply replied, "Then that's the first question you need to ask yourself; 'Who is Kara Thrace?'" The raptor pilot then left for the pilot briefing.

Kara had wandered the corridors before she returned to the cabin she now resided in, the cabin that was once Lee's, then sat at her desk for a long time. Finally she pulled out a notepad and wrote down those four words Athena had asked her, "Who is Kara Thrace?"

She looked at that paper often when she wasn't jotting down her ramblings on the nature of scripture. She seemed to ask that question of herself constantly.

Who is Kara Thrace?

Was she a pilot? An officer? A warrior? Leader? Artist? Amateur philosopher or raving lunatic with delusions of grandeur? Mourning Widow or Black Widow? Was she all those things or none of them?

She would look at the paper the first few hours, even days after she'd initially written them down in a vain attempt to draw some epiphany from the question; some all-encompassing answer that was at the same time profoundly true and profoundly simple.

No such luck, all she came out of those hours with was eye strain and profound confusion almost to the point of frustration. Several times she'd hurled the notepad across the cabin and she'd cast the quest for self-enlightenment aside for a shift at CAP followed by several hours of booze and cards.

Her hand would always freeze on the wheel of the hatch and the words of both Brenn and Lee would calm her. Lee had sacrificed himself for her, even if Brenn had been full of shit, Lee's final words made it very clear that he'd died for her. She owed it to Lee to try.

Of course, it was arrogance to presume she could answer a question meant to take a lifetime to answer in mere hours, but Kara always had a streak of audacity. On the third day of brooding over this fundamental question, Kara stumbled across a possible path to its answer. It was a book given to her by Showboat of all people.

There was a philosophical streak in Marcia Case and she appreciated Kara's search for meaning.

The former Pegasus squadron leader had also become one of Kara's closest confidants after Lee's death. It seemed she and Lee had attended War College together, and the redhead implied that she and Lee had been extremely close at the time, close enough to make tentative plans of marriage until Zak's death had caused Lee to stumble into a dark place that he never quite came out of. Marcia confided that between her assignment on Pegasus and her bruised ego at Lee's rebuffs of her attempts at comfort in the weeks following Zak's death she'd felt guilty that she'd never done more to help him.

The Caprican woman had been raised worshiping Hermes and her parents had cultivated a love of philosophy and history. One of her most prized possession was a biography of Pythia.

Kara read the book hungrily, learning much about both the prophet of the Exodus and herself. Pythia had been a general during one of the last civil wars on Kobol and by all accounts, he'd been faithless. That is until the night before the third battle of Eden, when he'd been taken bodily into the heavens. He'd disappeared for nearly three days, only to be returned prior to the morning of the third day. The battle became a rout and Pythia's men carried his flag into Eden demanding their enemies' surrender. Upon arriving in the city square, he declared his fealty to Athena and Aurora and resigned his commission.

When he returned home, he gave his lands and all his possessions to his wife and children, then freed his slaves before burning his home to the ground as he disappeared into the forest. Legend says went into the hills and wrote without rest for days, chronicling the prophecy of the Exodus and Reunion of the Tribes. The chronicle was found by his widow outside a temple of Aurora but he was never seen again.

The book went on to say that each of the true prophets of the Lords had experienced a moment of profound transformation before being set on their path. Pythia's had been the most extreme being physically taken to Olympus only to return with a knowledge so destructive that he cut all ties with his former life and spent his final days in the wilderness.

If Brenn was telling the truth, then that meant that every moment of her life was in preparation of Lee's death and what it would usher in. Somehow the Gods had chosen her to shepherd the Fleet to Earth.

It could almost make you laugh, if it wasn't so frakking serious.

She didn't concern herself with how she'd lead the Fleet. The Vessel Brenn had spoke of knew the way, Kara only had to figure out how to express the path. Whatever that meant.

While Kara continued her quest for enlightenment, life on Galactica continued. Baltar's trial seemed to be all anyone wanted to talk about. It seemed that the former President's Lawyer, while eccentric (and damned lucky considering how close he'd come to being nothing more than bits after Kelly's nervous breakdown led him to attempting to blow up Baltar's defense attorneys) was also tactically gifted.

He'd managed to thus far spin the trial away from Baltar's hand in the Occupation to rather a seemingly personal vendetta on the part of President Roslin. He didn't seem to be swaying public opinion so far but he'd already done far more than Kara would have expected.

He'd also managed to make Tigh look like a complete drunken fool on the stand a few days ago.

She'd noticed Tigh had a distracted look about him lately, like the first weeks after New Caprica. It wasn't merely that he was drinking heavily; he was spooked and closed off. She'd tried to talk to him but while the animosity between the two of them was long gone, the camaraderie they'd had after the Exodus began anew wasn't really there anymore either.

Besides, it didn't seem to be something Tigh could put into words anyway. All he'd said was "The hour's getting late" before he wandered away.

The fallout of Tigh's testimony was devastating to the prosecution; Lampkin could use Tigh to prove that several of the Prosecution's witnesses were willing to perjure themselves if it meant Baltar was convicted. He also had an opening to attack Laura Roslin as she was also part of the resistance leadership on New Caprica.

But Tigh's testimony had further reach then the trial, it ushered in the second of the tasks "Zeus" would ask of her. She'd passed the Admiral's cabin on her evening run when she heard him shouting inside. The hatch was open so she slipped inside to find the Old Man and Karl deep in an argument.

Adama was accusing Karl of betraying the crew by telling Lampkin about Ellen's death, judging by the glass of bourbon on his desk, the alcohol had loosened his tongue.

Karl was not passive in the argument, outside of the Old Man or Kara herself, Karl had probably had more shit heaped on him than anybody since the Attacks; his time on Caprica, his relationship with Sharon, Thorne, Cain, Roslin abducting his child and he took it all in stride. He'd never flaked out on anybody or threw aside duty, but it never seemed to be enough.

Kara stepped in when she heard Karl say in clipped tones that he wasn't going to be called a liar by a man trying to run a sham trial. She all but chased Helo from the room and dogged the hatch behind him.

Adama downed his drink then emptied the bottle into his glass as he began to rant, first about Baltar and all he'd done to the Fleet since their journey began. Then he moved onto Lampkin and Karl, calling them traitors. He even cursed at her, saying she'd betrayed him when he needed her most by taking her leave.

She allowed him to hurl angry accusations at her for a few moments; she even let him hurl his tumbler past her ear at the sealed hatch calling her a bitch. It wasn't until he started to curse the memory of Lee before she stopped him, "Destroying everything and everyone around you isn't going to help. Cursing the people who care about you will only leave you bitter and alone, I speak from experience. Tigh never told anyone about Ellen's death, no one. This isn't even what you're angry about. You're angry because of Lee.

"You're angry for the same reason I am, you never told Lee all the things you thought you'd always have time to say. You hate yourself because you wasted all the time you had. If Lee was here, he'd been furious with you right now, he'd tell you that Karl has been more loyal to you than anyone, even Tigh and he wouldn't betray you now. You owe Karl the same." She'd left him there to ponder what she'd said.

Now, three days later, he had called her to his cabin. Kara couldn't help but wonder if this was the third task put upon her before the Vessel's arrival.

She came upon his hatch to find the marine guard already opening the hatch for her. The cabin beyond the hatch was in near blackness and as she stepped in it took more than a few seconds for her eyes to adjust. She was growing more and more used to finding him brooding like this since the Exodus first began.

When she could finally see through the darkness, she found him not at his desk but standing in front of his couch, staring at his painting of the Battle of Molecay. She imagined he'd prefer to have some sort of porthole to stare out of, because it was very clear he wasn't admire the work of Monclair.

He was still in his dress grays, but his sash hung off his shoulder limply and his tunic was clearly open. His glasses also dangled in the fingers of his left hand while his right hand flexed at his side. She was thankful to note that his bar appeared as untouched as the cup of steaming coffee that was cooling on the nearby table.

She let the silence linger for a few moments before she dared to breach the oppressive atmosphere he'd built around himself, "Sir?"

He turned blue eyes upon her, "My father was an attorney. Did Zak or Lee ever tell you that?" His voice was soft but clearly troubled.

He held out a hand to usher her to the couch and she obliged him as she said, "Yes, Zak told me that once."

He took in her words with a grunt as his eyes were drawn back to the painting, "My father and I weren't terribly close. I learned when I was fourteen that he'd spent much of his early career as a lawyer for the Ha'la'tha back on Tauron. I'd heard rumors that my Uncle Sam was a member, but Dad always tried to act like he was the champion of the little guy. Like most young men, the perceived hypocrisy got to me.

"Still, we couldn't exactly ignore to each other. We were all the family we had after my mother and sister had died when I was a boy. But it was never quite peaceful between us."

Kara smiled despite herself, "Sounds familiar."

He turned to her with a sad smile, "That it does." His expression turned haunted again before he continued, "After the War, dad got me a full ride legal scholarship to Caprica University but I turned him down. I joined the military because of the War of course, but I think I got back into the Fleet because it made more sense than the legal world." He sighed, "I was right."

He finally sat down next to her, "The Defense rested today, Lampkin made quite the speech, he's won over more people then anyone ever thought he would."

He drifted off into silence again and Kara watched him carefully, he looked lost. "Sir?"

He frowned, "We had a preliminary vote and the jury's currently hung, I hold the last vote. At the start of the trial, I was so sure that this was a matter of formality; Baltar surrendered at New Caprica, people died, end of frakkin' discussion. Now here I am, wondering if we're just trying to use Baltar as some sort of totem. Are we just trying to rid ourselves of any sins we may have committed by putting him out the airlock and if we are, then maybe civilization is coming apart and we're becoming something I've been afraid of since the start…"

He turned expectant eyes on her; Kara realized that he wanted her to help him decide the fate of Gaius Baltar and possibly their very legal system… 'No pressure, Starbuck.'

She spent the next few moments doing her best to choose her words carefully. "I think we spent a long time prior to New Caprica doing our best to hold things together, only to watch everything go to Hell. Baltar precipitated a lot of that; he was probably the worst possible choice we could've made for President. Then the Cylons came and everything got worse, I don't know if we'll ever put New Caprica behind us but I do know one thing, putting Baltar to death won't fix that.

"Now, would I like to get Baltar alone for a few minutes? That's another matter, but it'd be personal. You'd probably want to do the same, but it'd be the same thing. Personal. I guess the question is; if you vote guilty will it be personal or not?"

He nodded but didn't say anything more, after a few minutes Kara decided she'd said all she could and she rose to her feet. She crossed the cabin but his voice stopped her at the hatch, "Kara?" When she turned around he got to his feet and crossed the room until he stood in front of her, "Thank you." He gave a smile that was more grimace than anything, "I hate to admit it but this leave's been good for you."

She smiled as a blush reddened her face and neck. After all this time, praise from William Adama or his sons could warm her soul more than anything. She started to turn when he continued, "That being said, please don't stay on leave one second longer then you have to." She left his cabin with a chuckle.

#&#

Baltar had gotten off, no one could quite believe it was true but earlier that by a vote of three to two they acquitted him of all charges. A near-riot broke out in the courtroom before they'd whisked him out to his holding cell to gather his things before his release.

A wave of anger was sweeping through the Fleet fast and Kara had almost wished she hadn't done her part to convince the Old Man to cast the deciding vote in favor of acquittal as it seemed to have just as negative an effect as the court surrendering to bloodlust would have had.

Still, the angry murmurs from those around her weren't what had Kara on edge. It was a sense of foreboding she'd felt since her talk with the Admiral, Brenn's words were haunting her now more than ever. "_After that, all will seem lost. Only then will the Gods consider you pure and you will finally know the presence of the Vessel._"

She was afraid to wonder what that would have to mean. Things were bleak, but it didn't seem as though hope were lost… she had to brutally suppress the urge to tag that line of thought with the word "yet."

Gaeta's voice on the PA interrupted her train of thought, "_Attention Galactica: Jump clock is running. Stand by to jump._"

Moments later, she felt the familiar sensation of a FTL jump and she continued on her way. She'd barely made it a dozen steps before the power cut and the corridor was plunged into darkness. A moment after that, her vision swam and she nearly crashed to the deck as her knees buckled. She leaned against the bulkhead as she tried to clear her head before…

#&#

_Her feet carried her forward of their own volition, chewing up the deck as she passed easily between people even in the near darkness of the emergency lighting. It was almost without her knowledge that she arrived in her cabin. She turned towards her locker and pulled it open, her eyes were immediately drawn to the image of Lee, Zak and herself in happier times. Her lips turned up in a sad smile as her fingertips caressed the photo, first Zak's face then Lee's. _

_Lee's eyes seemed to draw her in and she was soothed by their depth. She remembered every time they crinkled with mirth, when they shined with rage, how they turned almost grey with despair after Cain's funeral and especially the times they would darken before he kissed her._

_Tears of remembered joy sprang to her eyes and with a great effort she tore her eyes from the picture, only for them to land on the mirror where she was met by her own face. Serenity smoothing her features as never before…_

_She eventually turned from the mirror, only for her eyes to settle on the photo of her apartment Karl found after they left the Algae Planet. The mural of the mandala was most prominent in the photo and as she looked at it, it began to writhe and swirl. Thunder rumbled from somewhere and she staggered away from the photo._

_As she tumbled to the deck she heard Lee's voice, "Kara!"_

#&#

She jumped as Gaeta's voice jarred her from her vision, "_Action stations, action stations. Set Condition o­ne throughout the ship. This is not a drill. All Viper pilots report to Vipers immediately. Inbound Cylon Fleet. I repeat, action stations, action stations. Set Condition o­ne throughout the ship. This is not a drill._"

She looked around and quickly realized that she was still in the corridor leaning against the bulkhead. The vision had come to her for the first time in weeks but it had struck her with an intensity she'd never felt before from the images. It was the last sign she had needed, the moment had arrived. She took off in a dead sprint for her cabin. She knew she needed to be in the air with the other pilots.

#&#

It had been almost surprisingly easy for Kara to get her plane back in the air. She had changed into her flight suit in her cabin and raced down to the deck. She found chaos when she arrived, the Chief wasn't on the Deck, leaving Cally and Laird the task of scrambling fighters.

She approached Peter and the former deck chief of Pegasus gave her a relieved nod and ordered her plane readied for combat. He didn't even call CIC to make sure Kara was cleared for duty. It was only then that she realized how grim the situation was.

Indeed, all hope was lost.

By the time she was in the tube she was surprised to see Sam on the deck pulling on a flight suit while Tyrol ushered her ex-husband to a Mark II. She cast the multitude of questions that sight brought aside and turned to the LSO in the control booth and gave him a thumbs-up. Moments later she felt the familiar onrushing G-force as her viper was cast out into the black.

She noticed quickly they were in a nebula as she formed up with the initial wave of alert vipers and raptors. She could make out the shape of four Base Ships; a dark swirling mass of launching raiders surrounded them. The Cylons apparently had come with enough fire power to at last overrun the Fleet and wipe out the last hope of humanity.

She took a deep breath and triggered her radio, "Galactica/Starbuck in Viper Three requesting instructions."

The Old Man's gruff voice crackled through her ear piece, "_Starbuck/Actual. Good to hear your voice. Actual to all ships, form up on Starbuck, she is resuming command of Air Group._"

She suppressed the urge to groan and mumbled, "No pressure though, Starbuck." Just then an unknown contact popped up on her DRADIS. "Galactica/Starbuck, I've got a bogey at my ten. I'm moving to intercept."

She banked her viper and kicked in the thrust, but as she moved into visual distance of the bogey it disappeared off her screen. She frowned at her display and mumbled, "Where did you go?"

She looked around but she could only see swirling stellar dust, her frown turned into an annoyed scowl, "Where the frak did you go?"

Her DRADIS blipped again, right on top of her and… something shot by her nearly clipping her canopy. "WHAT THE FRAK!"

Just as she was about to call Athena to see if she had a visual on her bogey she noticed out of her peripheral vision a ship come in along side her. She turned and found a Mark VII, it was pristine, almost parade ready and tucked in next to her perfectly. She then turned to the cockpit and nearly lost control of her plane as she'd received the shock of her life.

Next to her, was Lee Adama flying off her wing like he'd never been gone. He turned to her with a smile like she'd only ever imagined. Gentle and content without a trace of all the turmoil he'd gone through in his life. She had a brief thought that perhaps she'd had some sort of mechanical error during launch and she blew up in the tube only to find herself with Lee in Elysium. His voice was serene, "_Hey, Kara._"

A war waged within her, trying to decide whether or not she'd pitched headlong into madness, "Lee?"

If anything, Lee's smile only became wider as his eyes shined with mirth, "_It's okay, Kara. It's me. I promise._"

As though her lips had a mind of their own, she felt a smile of her own twitch onto her face, "Really?"

He chuckled and nodded, "_It's gonna be all right, Kara. I've been to Earth, the Gods showed me the path and I'm going to take us there._"

--End--


	4. Tideline

**Tideline**

Lee had already powered down his viper and was in the process of removing his gloves as he was towed onto the deck. He could tell by the gathering crowd that his return from the storm had left chaos in its wake, even if he'd only been gone a few hours.

After forming up with Kara, Lee surged into battle with a whoop and cut down three raiders before Kara completely regained her bearings and engaged herself. After that, the pair moved through the fight with a grace that few had ever seen before or would again. It reminded Lee of the first days after the Attacks, when he and Starbuck flew as though they were of one mind.

Then as suddenly and as brutally as combat began; the Cylon fleet bugged out and jumped away. Leaving the Fleet to try and figure out what had just happened. Moments later, Hot Dog and Red Wing were ordered to escort Lee back to Galactica, weapons hot. Kara flew at his wing the whole way; Lee couldn't help his smirk at the anger in her features before she flew ahead to land before him.

When his plane lurched to a stop, he popped his canopy, then his restraints and pulled off his helmet before finally hopping out of the cockpit. He descended the ladder slowly, his eyes seeking out and finding a perplexed looking Chief ahead of a crowd of distrustful faces. He couldn't help the grin that came to his face at the thought of how his father would react to Lee's triumphant news.

"Chief, where's my post-flight?"

Tyrol gave him a strange, almost searching look before he shook his head. He might have spoken had Kara not shot past him to wrap herself firmly around Lee. Lee immediately met her embrace with one of his own. He buried his face in her hair and did nothing to stop the small sigh of contentment that left his lips as he sank fully into this moment of reunion. He squeezed her more tightly to himself when he heard Kara murmuring into his throat, "I lost you."

He spoke gently, in almost a whisper, "It's okay, Kara. I'm sorry, I'm so sorry I did that to you."

He felt her hand become a fist and she clubbed him twice on the back in a weak admonishment of his audacity to die on her. He then heard a laugh that was a mix of relief, angst and joy bubble out of her. They held each other a moment longer before he said, "I can't wait to show it to you; shining blue oceans, green grass, every manner of animal. You're gonna love it."

Kara stepped out of his arms but held onto his hands tightly, she gave him a watery smile and said, "Well then, I can't wait."

Lee smiled widely but his reply was interrupted by his father's voice, "Apollo!"

As he turned to greet his father he was met with the butt of an assault rifle, the black followed hot on its heels.

#&#

He sputtered back into the conscious world as ice water had been thrown on him. He coughed and gagged for a moment before he looked around wildly; he was in the brig, but not just any brig. He was in the cell they'd built for Boomer all those years ago with a squad of marines around him, weapons cocked. Sgt. Hadrian stepped forward with a scowl, "Strip!"

He looked up at the harsh-faced woman before he said, "What?"

Hadrian nodded and a marine Lee didn't recognize surged forward and hauled him to his feet violently, "Get out of the frakking flight suit, now!"

Lee felt his own features harden considerably, "I'd watch your tone, I'm a superior offi-" a knee to the gut silenced Lee as he doubled over in pain.

Hadrian then hissed out, "Lee Adama is dead, and you're just some Cylon trick. You aren't an officer, you're a toaster. Now strip!"

He cut the dark haired marine a venomous look before he took off his flight suit slowly. Next they ordered him to remove his watch, his wedding band and finally his tags. Moments later, he was down to his tanks and boxers. A red prisoner's jumpsuit was dumped unceremoniously at his feet, but as Lee bent over to pick it up, a marine's rifle came down hard on the back of his head and he was gone again.

#&#

Kara stood in the corner of the Admiral's cabin, silently fuming.

The second Lee had been dropped by the marine, that same marine was pistol whipped by her. She trained her gun instantly on Hadrian with a scowl, "What the frak is going on?"

Hadrian didn't answer her, the Old Man did. "We're going to throw that frakking thing in the brig and find out why the Cylons sent him!" He stepped out of the crowd, his eyes hard and his hands white-knuckled fist clenched at his sides. "Then, I'll take great pleasure in slaughtering the thing that's defiling my son's memory with every false breath it takes." He turned to Hadrian, "Get it out of my sight. Now!"

That was a little over an hour ago and she'd been in a meeting with the Admiral, Karl, Tigh, Sharon as well as the President and her two closest aides; Tory and Dee.

As Kara looked around the room, she could see quite clearly the mood of the people around her; Dee, Roslin and Adama all seemed ready to go down and shoot Lee between the eyes. Karl had been silent yet clearly angry, he may not want to kill Lee, but it was clear that he might want a few minutes alone with him.

Sharon, Tigh and Tory all seemed shaken though, Kara saw a haunted look in Sharon's eyes that made the viper pilot worried, while Tory and Tigh passed quick looks to each other during Roslin's rant; "…I just can't believe they'd try something like this after all these years, surely they didn't think we'd fall for that thing's act!"

Dee spoke up, "I think it may be an attempt to throw distrust upon the Admiral." Kara didn't even try to disguise her eye roll, "They send an imposter of-" Her voice hitched suddenly, "Major Adama to make people think that perhaps he's not a Cylon but a hybrid." She then turned to the Old Man directly, "The implication would be clear sir; either you or your late wife was a Cylon plant in the Colonies for years. Especially considering your father's friendship with the Greystones and that their company was instrumental in the creation of the first Cylons."

Roslin nodded then said, "That is possible."

At that moment, a marine entered the cabin and placed a box on the Admiral's desk. Kara crossed the room and looked into the box. She found Lee's flight suit and personal items within. She plucked his watch and tags out and inspected them.

The tags were not pristine, like she expected, there were some nicks and a little bit of wearing at the hole from the chain rubbing against them. They were precisely what she'd expect from tags that were worn by a career officer like Lee.

She then turned to the watch; it was the exact type of watch Lee had worn. She knew this watch well; she'd helped pick it out. She flipped the watch over and found worn engraving, "To LeLAND, From Zak." She smiled at the memory of Zak taunting his brother about his name that first night she met him.

Her fingers closed around the watch in her right hand and the tags in her left. She hadn't needed any confirmation, the way Lee sank into her embrace was all the proof she'd needed. Never the less, she had it.

Lee had come back to her.

She felt a smile twitch her lips for just a moment before she turned her head slightly to find Sharon's eyes on her. The pair locked eyes and she finally noticed the fear in the Cylon. In Sharon, she saw the same fear she'd seen in her own eyes in the first days after Lee's death.

Kara pocketed the watch and tags and tuned back into the conversation at the clipped and forceful tone of Laura Roslin. "Admiral, I am officially ordering that thing's interrogation. Use whatever means necessary to discern its orders and then throw it out the airlock."

Kara felt her heart stop at the Old Man's dark chuckle, "With respect, that was my plan all along."

The viper pilot felt a flash of protective anger burn through her veins, "I don't suppose anyone else has considered the other possibility."

Adama scowled while Roslin turned to her with a questioning look, "What possibility is that?"

Under the normally wilting stare of her CO Kara felt her resolve turn to iron, her chin tilted back in defiance of him as she spoke. "That the **_person_** the Admiral chucked into the brig is not a Cylon, or a hybrid or clone but that we were witness to a miracle. That Lee Adama was taken bodily onto Olympus two months ago and returned to us today. That he's not an infiltrator but a herald of the Gods to deliver us to Earth."

The looks of the others was telling. She was alone. She was unused to the feeling, never before had she found herself standing against both Roslin and the Admiral. Adama sighed and looked away with annoyance almost radiating off of him.

Roslin removed her glasses and cut Kara a look that she'd seen countless times growing up, that of a teacher feeling profound disappointment with her. "Captain Thrace, I know that you cared a great deal for Major Adama and-"

Kara scowled darkly, "Don't."

She continued undeterred, "People don't come back from the dead after two months Captain. Cylons do. The flight transcript states that that thing mentioned the Gods, Lee Adama had been an atheist, _both_ his father and widow told me this. I know that you took his death very hard.

"I was devastated as well and I wish, I truly wish that I could take what happened today at face value, but I can't. You can't allow that seductive thought to take hold, Kara. The path to Earth is the same path we've been on, we'll continue forward until we find another clue left behind by the Thirteenth Tribe. I don't know when that will come but I do know this; that Cylon in the brig is **_not_** the answer. It's damnation." She turned away from Kara and her eyes settled on Karl, "Captain Agathon. I want you to handle his interrogation. That is all."

Kara stormed out of the cabin but she'd only made it about twenty yards before a hand on her shoulder stopped her. She spun and found herself facing Sharon's wide eyes. She no longer felt the anger just profound sorrow, "What?"

Sharon was clearly spooked; Kara could never remember seeing her look like this before. "Do… Do you really think- that Lee's come back?"

She looked into the Raptor pilot's eyes for a long time, and finally noticed something behind the worry.

Hope.

Sharon wanted to know that Kara believed. Kara started to nod before she spoke firmly, "I do. I know he's come back. Something's happening Sharon, Lee's return is a sign and we can't let him be executed. We can't."

After a long and tense minute, the Cylon finally started to nod. "I've been having dreams… I think it's him too."

#&#

Gaius Baltar watched as Sharon and Kara walked down the corridor, curiosity filling his eyes. A part of him longed for a return of his days in the inner circle of the Fleet. He cast those thoughts aside, Roslin and Adama's slow but inexorable push towards absolute power over the last remnants of humanity no longer intrigued him. However, that brief snippet of conversation did.

A phantom caress from his shoulder up along the column of his throat ended with the sensation of fingers stoking the downy hair at the nape of his neck. "They witnessed a miracle, Gaius."

Long experience with the presence of Six allowed him not to outwardly react to her caress or her words. He took in the sight of her from the corner of his eye, her platinum hair was in stark contrast to red dress that seemed to fit her like a second skin, despite its rather conservative cut (conservative, by her standards.) She smiled knowingly at him and wrapped her arms lovingly around him as she turned her gaze back towards the retreating pilots. When she spoke it was almost wistfully, "It must have been beautiful."

He watched Kara and Sharon disappear around the corner before he asked, "What was this miracle?"

Out of the corner of his eye he watched her smile stretch and become far more playful, "Apollo has risen from the dead."

Despite himself, Gaius whipped his head towards her, "Apol- Ma-major Adama?" His mind raced, the very first thing he assumed was that Lee had been one of the Final Five. It was dismissed almost as quickly as he thought it. His very next thought was dismissed as quickly, that the elder Adama or perhaps his wife were one which would make Lee like Hera. The thought was even more ludicrous as it didn't provide Lee with a means of resurrection.

He turned towards the direction Starbuck and Athena had disappeared. It all clicked into place as he did, "He was… he **_is_** a sign. He's-he's… He's proof!"

He felt a giddy, almost drunken smile twitched into place as Six stepped in front of him with a smile as well, hers was a pleased expression. She was happy that he'd made the connection. "He died two months ago, and was returned by God to the Fleet as proof of his power and to help forward his plan."

Gaius nodded, he believed. He finally believed.

&#&

Several hours after she and Kara had left the Admiral's cabin and she'd had a chance to find her bearings, Sharon set out to find her husband. She found him in the observation room outside Lee's cell.

She could see on the monitors that Lee was kneeling in front of the bulkhead in his cell. His eyes were closed and his hands were clutched to his chest as his head was bowed. He was clearly praying, she could see two markings on the wall in front of him though she couldn't make them out.

The two marines posted to watch the monitors were barely paying attention. She stepped up to Karl and could see his perplexed frown. She could tell he needed to talk so she quietly ordered the two marines down to the mess hall. After the hatch closed behind them, Karl sank heavily into one of the vacated chairs with a sigh. She sat down across from him and smiled sadly.

The two sat in silence for a long moment before she reached out and grasped his hands with hers, "Talk to me?"

With another sigh, his clenched his eyes shut, "It'd be easier if he didn't look so frakking peaceful." He turned to the one-way mirror and stared at the cell, "If he was prowling the cell, full of that righteous fury I've come to expect from Lee I could just go in there and do the job… but he's not and for some reason it's more convincing." He turned back to her, "It shouldn't be, y'know?"

She smiled, "I know, Karl. It's the opposite of what you'd expect isn't it? You expect him to be the same old Lee, but he can't be. Not because a Cylon…" She trailed off intentionally, hoping he'd follow her train of thought.

He didn't disappoint, "But because he's not. He's gone through something so profound it stripped him of something… It left him- I don't know… Purified. Is that it?" Sharon nodded and he seemed to gain confidence in his thoughts, "If it happened just the way he said it did, then that means… That means, he really has been touched by the Gods. Doesn't it? He's been returned to serve a purpose and Kara-"

Sharon finished his thought this time, "Kara is part of it. She loves him, Karl."

The ECO laughed loudly, "No shit, Sharon! I'd have to be blind and deaf not to know that after the way she took his death."

Sharon squeezed his hands and he fell silent then turned serious. She then said, "Karl, you know as well as I do how much she loves him, she believes in him and-"

He gently pulled a hand free of hers and tucked a lock of her hair away affectionately. "You do too. Don't you?"

She nodded and the pair fell silent again. She turned back to the monitor then said, "What's that on the wall in front of him?"

Karl shrugged, "He asked for idols to pray with but Hadrian flatly refused. However, the Six must have left a pen in the cell because he found it and broke open the ink and drew that on the wall. Sergeant Venner said they're old symbols for Aurora and Athena. He's been praying since I left his cell. Hadrian will probably have them washed off the wall as soon as she sees them." He scowled at the mere thought of it.

Sharon looked between her husband and the monitors before she said, "Karl-"

She trailed off when the hatch inside the brig swung open and both of them were absolutely still as Kara first entered the brig and then ordered the guard to open the cell. She stepped into the cell and Lee slowly stood and turned to her. Kara's eyes drank him in unabashedly before she spoke, "_Hi, Lee._"

&#&

When Gaius returned the quarters that he'd been taken too in the chaos after his trial he asked for two things. He asked for Tracey Anne and Paulla to gather all the members as quickly as possible, and access to the transmitter they used to contact others throughout the Fleet.

The others gathered around them, each of them curious about the sudden giddy energy Baltar seemed to be full of as he seemed so despondent after he left Derrick's side.

After everyone was gathered and the wireless was set up for, Gaius gave them all a smile before he picked up the microphone and flipped on the transmitter. "My friends, I am Gaius Baltar… I've been welcomed into your fellowship recently and I am grateful both for you and the hope you have provided me that I am not alone.

"**_We_** are not alone. Not in our faith, or our love, or our joy. Nor were we alone when we were lost, or sad, or afraid. We might have felt alone, I know I felt quite alone for most of my life… I felt alone because I found nothing I could believe in. My father was a farmer, he like so many on Aerilon was a man of the land who was only truly happy when he was in the garden.

"I didn't inherit my father's love of farming and perhaps that's where I began to feel alone. I drifted through life, my ability with computers and science came easily which only seemed to further isolate me. I tried to find something, but I always seemed to find the wrong things." He chuckled and looked over the group, seeing them engrossed in his wards while Six watched on from the corner, clearly impressed by his confession.

"I began to embrace my solitude… until recently. My friends, I have seen something beautiful that has opened my eyes to the most basic Truth of our existence. Each of you has come to this Truth as well." He stood up and turned slowly to see everyone in the room, "There is no truth in the Lords of Kobol, these selfish beings who used their power to subjugate and oppress our ancestors on Kobol and enslave us to their dogma even today.

"There's no Truth to them, because they are divisive. Deep down, each of you has discovered that the way to salvation and enlightenment… The _only_ way is through a single path because there is a power beyond Zeus' lightning or Ares' sword. It's love. The love the One _True_ God has for all things." Everyone in the room nodded in agreement, he even noticed tears among some. "God loves you!" He pointed to Jeanne, "He loves you!" He pointed Lilly, "He loves you!" Lilly burst into tears as he pointed to another member, "And you! He loves each of you that can hear me, he loves your friends, and he loves those who still cling to the Lords… He even loves me in spite of my many sins, perhaps even because of them.

"Some of our friends here on Galactica may ask what it is I have seen that has me so full of joy when things seem almost hopeless. I have seen a miracle. It occurred in the Ionian Nebula yesterday. God sent us a messenger. He has sent us proof of His power in the form of a man. Two months ago; one of Galactica's pilots, Major Lee Adama was killed on patrol. He was returned to us yesterday."

All around him hushed whispers of disbelief but he pressed on, silencing them in the process. "Lee Adama, son of Admiral Adama, who sacrificed the Pegasus over New Caprica to save his father and the Galactica. God chose perhaps the one person in this Fleet who could not be a Cylon or a Human-Cylon hybrid or clone and blessed him again with life. That is proof of His power!"

An excited murmur went through his followers at that statement, and he could see the same joy he felt when Six told him of the miracle, he pressed further, "My friends, in the face of this miracle Laura Roslin and Admiral Adama are unconvinced. Even now they are conspiring to first interrogate and then murder this messenger of God to secure their own power. I ask something of each of you now, spread this Good News to everyone you know, tell them of the Miracle of Apollo and then we shall in one loud voice demand his freedom! Thank you and God bless you."

He turned off the transmitter and as one the group surged upon him full of questions.

&#&

Lee smiled at Kara and that was all it took. She flew across the room and wrapped him up tight as a vice. He returned the embrace with as much enthusiasm. "I missed you too, Kara."

She squeezed him once before she spoke into his throat, "What happened?"

He stroked her back gently in an effort to soothe, "In the storm? Her nod caused her nose to tickle him slightly, "After the turkey clipped me, I hit my head. I remember floating in the Qualai River, then… I spoke with someone, I promised them something… It's hazy but the next thing I knew I was talking to you then… Earth. That's all I remember."

She stepped out of his arm but maintained a death grip on his hands. He smiled, "I remember talking about you though. I remember for a moment the flames on the nose of my viper before I was in orbit over Earth. I could feel the pressure squeezing the ship." He trailed off as Kara felt a dark shudder run through her before he spoke again, "I think… maybe I met one of the Gods, maybe Athena or Aurora because I know their prayers."

Kara looked him over and she could see him struggling with it, as though he was trying to remember a dream. "Lee, you were an atheist?"

He smiled, "I know, but I'd imagine even the most devout atheist could meet the Gods and not have a little faith afterwards." She smirked at his weak joke. He shrugged then said, "I don't know how to explain it Kara, all I know is I feel different, stronger in my heart, like something took the fear away. I'm as sure in my faith in Athena and Aurora as I am in you. I know that you'll be able get the Fleet to Earth. I've been there, but you'll take us there."

She felt a blush scorch her cheek as she saw the conviction in Lee's word. She could see how much he believed in her and for the first time in perhaps her whole life, Kara Thrace started to believe in herself as well.

She smiled then released his hand to reach into her pocket, "If that's the case, then I have something for you." She pulled out the idols and presented them to him, "Athena and Aurora."

He smiled and reverently plucked the figurines from her hands and looked at her with unrestrained gratitude. Which gave her the courage to make her own pledge, "Lee, first I'm gonna get you out of this brig. Then, if I have to beg borrow or steal, we'll get a ship and we'll find Earth and take the Fleet there. I don't care who I have to go through."

He smiled and clutched the two statues in his hand, "Thank you."

She smiled and felt her eyes mist over before her smile became a much more Starbuck-like smirk. "Don't thank me yet. I still have to bust you out of jail."

He laughed then she pulled him back to her. As he wrapped her up and she sank into his arms she wondered if perhaps she'd been fooled and the tasks Brenn set out for her all those weeks ago had only just started.


End file.
